Legend of Kage 2 — Ninjas run Fast

Platform: Nintendo DS
Year released: 2008
Year I beat it: 2009 or so

I’m certain to have picked this up, because I remembered the feel of movement in the original The Legend of Kage. Well, not exactly the original. I have not played the arcade version from 1985, but rather the NES version released in 1987. Even then, I didn’t play it near its release, but instead a few years later, perhaps in 1990. I remember it feeling primitive then, but impressing me with ninja movement. Ninjas run fast, leaning forward and low. Ninjas jump high into the trees and run along branches while it rains and thunders.

So we come to Legend of Kage 2. The game is developed by Lancarse, a developer most notable for having arse in its name. I don’t know who they are, but they made a pretty good game here. It’s an aesthetically pleasing nod to pixel art of the past, before that was an indie staple and the visuals really are very good here. The anime stylings of Kage and friends are a big draw. I can easily imagine these characters set in an anime series, fulfilling their destined tropes and rooting our sorcerous evil. Kage is cool. I may have read his name as “cage” when I was young, but it’s “ka ge”, the Japanese word for shadow. He’s born to be a ninja. The game features a second playable character, Chihiro. Each character features unique attacks and abilities as well as plot points as the game progresses.

It’s a short action game, designed in similar fashion to NES games of years past. Levels are a few minutes long. There are bosses at the end of each level, and it’s not enough to react to their attacks. Their patterns must be learned. The game features relatively modern sensibilities for the time, so it may feel like a NES game, but it’s much more fair.

It’s been a while since I’ve played this, so I don’t remember precisely what was off about the action, but I know it didn’t quite hold up to better games of the time that also attempted a retro revival. Contra 4, the handheld Castlevanias, and others, scratch a similar itch for me and do it better than Legend of Kage 2. It’s a still worthwhile game though, and an underdog at that.